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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Winter nights are perfect for reviewing old photos. These pictures come from my grandfather's collection. In the early 40's he signed on as a cook on the Alaskan Highway Crew, then found work as a cook at a gold-mine in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Pictures of Kayaks and Canoes:

The caption on this postcard reads: The Seal Hunter Returns. It was taken by Jacobs/Nome. I believe it was also taken in Nome.

These two pictures are from: The Alaska Sportsman Book: Pictures of the Last Frontier by the Alaska Frontier Publishing Company.

Some miscellaneous pictures:

Henry Dreier, "Gen Del" in a wonderful sealskin coat and rather hasty put on boots. This picture was approved by the Army Examiner, so its probably from the Alaskan Highway.

A wonderful Christmas card from Maurice, though I'm pretty sure that's not what you're supposed to do with bears.

I wish I knew the story behind this picture. I never asked my grandfather about his photos from Alaska. As a kid, I was mostly interested in seeing if my grandfather had any spare gum. Beyond the gum, I loved looking at his display of ivory figurines, small polar bears and geese, he'd brought back with him. And on an especially good day, he might pull out the coporlite, mammoth teeth, tusks and other treasures he'd found with near the gold mine.

And speaking of the mine; here are a few pictures:

The smelting process

My grandfather is the one on the right. He believed in basic food and plenty of it. His recipes were for 200 biscuits, gallons of beans etc. He was a frugal man who believed in saving. He could not understand why any of the men at the mine might chose to go into town and pay for meals when they were given free meals at the mine. When he moved back home, he kept a huge garden for vegetables (loved his tomotoes!), fished and clammed for other meals.

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